by Tyler Munro

Fresh out of prison, eccentric criminal turned rapper turned criminal turned rapper again DMX recently stopped by Dr. Drew’s Lifechangers for a surprisingly lucid interview and performance of his new song, “Keep Your Head Up.”

In other news, DMX has a new song and it’s kind of super-religious.

But it’s the interview that’s really interesting. Talking about his life of crime, DMX says he hopes he’s “done” with the legal system before launching into the story of that time he and a fellow inmate escaped from an up-state New York jail for almost an entire month. He talks about his rough childhood, of how aggressively his mother beat him, before talking to the Doc about how he sometimes spanks his ten kids (to curious, unwelcomed laughter from a crowd of X-enthusiasts).

The interview is pretty lengthy but it’s an eye-opening look at one of hip-hop’s most storied trouble makers. As Dr. Drew so necessarily points out, Earl, the man behind the character, actually seems like a pretty sensitive guy. Y’know, when he’s not beating his kids or jumping from prison sentence to prison sentence or barking unprovoked in people’s faces. There’s also a pretty nice little segment where X and his producer (“Caviar”) offer a troubled kid an internship. The motorcycle, we’ll assume, is something he’ll receive off camera. [via Rap Radar]